Wayne Hiebert, The Ottawa Citizen /
Christine Lamothe-Moir and her husband, Jim Moir, started Performance Development Training Inc. at home.
Wayne Hiebert, The Ottawa Citizen /
Christine Lamothe-Moir and her husband, Jim Moir, started Performance Development Training Inc. at home.
Ross Kippen
The Ottawa Citizen
In 1991, Jim Moir and his wife, Christine Lamothe-Moir, like many professional couples, felt they were not getting what they wanted out of their careers and their lives. Unlike many couples, they decided to do something about it.
They developed a life plan that mapped out what they wanted and how they wanted to achieve it. From that evolved a business plan and their decision to start their own business together.
After leaving the federal government, they started Performance Development Training, a firm that teaches people how to take control of their lives through goal-setting, stress management and time management.
What Jim and Christine did is becoming more common. As job security is becoming a luxury and busy two-career families mean less time for each other and the children, more couples are opting to work for each other.
According to Statistics Canada, 16 per cent of Canadians were self-employed in 1996, up from 13 per cent in 1986. Twenty per cent of those now self-employed reported that their primary reason was to be part of a family business.
"We wanted a lifestyle in which we could share the same passion and build that lifestyle together based on our shared core values," says Ms. Lamothe-Moir.
By developing their own product, the Personal Productivity Plus training course, they believed they were securing their future rather than risking it.
"By having control over the factors that could lead to our success, we felt more secure than if others were in control, such as the case would be if we were job-employed. Security comes when you give up your need to feel secure," said Mr. Moir.
Although they had to make many sacrifices, including downsizing their lifestyle, they felt the rewards of gaining control of their lives through their own business were well worth it.
They have a greater control over how they manage their time, which reduces stress considerably, and as a team they are both acting in their own best interests, both professional and personal.
But it hasn't been totally smooth sailing.
As they initially worked from home, the new business began to consume them. In the early stages they had to establish some boundaries as to when it was time to work and when it was not.
"One non-negotiable rule we made was that we wouldn't discuss business during dinner. We also made a serious effort to make time for ourselves," says Ms. Lamothe-Moir.
They have long since moved their office from their home but still apply the same rules regarding when to discuss business.
When they're at loggerheads over a particular decision, they make an appointment with each other to deal with the issue. They don't discuss it at home or waste time constantly discussing it. If they still can't resolve it, they choose a third party, usually someone who is an expert on the subject, to help them reach a solution.
"This (including a third party) takes the emotion out of the issue and helps us make the right decision," says Mr. Moir.
Another problem was that the Moir children began to feel neglected as their parents spent endless hours struggling to get Performance Development Training off the ground.
During the start-up phase, the parents decided to sell their home to buy a much smaller one and use the equity to invest in the business. This decision did not sit well with their children, Geoffrey and Derek, who were 10 and eight years old.
Naturally, they didn't want to move away from their friends. They and their parents reached a compromise, allowing them to move into a smaller home but in the same school district so the children could stay close to theirfriends.
Since then, the children have been consulted on all decisions that would affect them, and on many other occasions compromises were reached that enabled the children to feel like they were contributing. Now in their teens, they spend time in the office helping their parents.
Ms. Lamothe-Moir thinks this family approach to the business has taught their children the valuable lessons of hard work, sacrifice and the importance of setting life goals and priorities. She also believes that they are providing positive role models.
There are a number of adjustments that couples must go through, one of them being who is responsible for what. Both agree that they are territorial and were used to doing things their own way.
Both held responsible positions in the federal government, and they were both accustomed to being in charge and giving the orders. This was the source of some initial conflict. They had to learn how to define each other's responsibility so they could do their jobs.
"Through time, conflict, constant negotiation and compromise, we were able to sort out who does what. The question to be answered had to be what is best for the company, and ultimately what's best for us," explained Mr. Moir.
What they realized is that they both have different strengths and interests and divided up the duties accordingly.
"It came down to who's better at what task. Jim's strength is his vision, while mine is the details," explained Ms. Lamothe-Moir.
Many professional people define themselves in terms of their career. Making a significant change to their career requires making changes to their self-concept.
Coming from successful careers, each had a solid independent professional self-concept. In starting fresh with a new company in a new industry with each other, they had to develop a new collective self-concept. This meant redefining who they were in terms of their new endeavour together.
"Like two companies merging under a new identify to produce a new product," said Mr. Moir.
Initially, Ms. Lamothe-Moir had difficulty redefining her professional identity and was concerned that her contribution to Performance Development Training would not be taken seriously by clients if they were aware that she and Jim were married. She maintained her independent identity by using her maiden name professionally. Ms. Lamothe-Moir thinks she has established her credibility within the company and with their customers and is now much more comfortable with her new professional situation, so she has begun using the hyphenated last name.